Chairman's Rant, July 2019

[red5]

Thanks.

Yes it is rather rapid, not that mad that it scares you, although I am still running it in!

Anyone currently building a LB with the same supercharged Toyota engine (Norm?) is in for some fun.

[renmure]

Thanks.

Yes it is rather rapid, not that mad that it scares you, although I am still running it in!

That goes back to Chairman Mao's other point tho. There's a real tipping point where you need all the high tec stuff switched on because there's more power than you can handle with all the gizmos turned off. I think Lotus have always been on the money in that regard. My Ultima is 650BHP and has no driver aids whatever. It's fab for pub talk but the reality on the road is that it's a prod of the accelerator away from being very scary indeed. An STR with 300ish or even up to 350 BHP sounds about right.

[red5]

That goes back to Chairman Mao's other point tho. There's a real tipping point where you need all the high tec stuff switched on because there's more power than you can handle with all the gizmos turned off. I think Lotus have always been on the money in that regard.

I wonder for how long, new Chinese investment and a desire to make the brand into something that can rival McLaren with all electric hyper car may change the Lotus ethos.

I do believe the current push by governments for the supposed 'green' electric vehicles will be upon us quicker than we think, where will that leave enthusiasts like us on this forum who enjoy tinkering with oily mechanical bits?

Current crop of electric vehicles only last around 10 years so perhaps by 2030 we'll be back in fashion!

[Normb666]

Very nice Nick....did you build it yourself? (Old Skool Lotus eh!)
Mate of mine's got one, bought it new 4 years ago - he'll be in it on the Northern Drive-Out in a few weeks. He loves it, and I came close to getting one, but it's too obviously related to my old S1 Elise I had yonks ago, and I can't help thinking of that when I'm in it!

Jim, your point regarding "too much power" is noted... but I like to think I have enough self-control (read: "fear") to be sure I'll be OK if the motor in my LB really does turn out to have 420bhp. I'm still piloting my ZZR1400 - 2 wheels, 593lb (269kg), over 200bhp. Never had it flat out or anywhere near the red line, never needed to - even 2-up and in top gear you only have to tweak the throttle and it pulls like a train. Amazing how following things, seen in the mirror, get so small, so fast...

My initial point about "nannying stuff" was more to do with blind spot monitoring, lane warning, etc. etc. that stops you having to think, rather than electronics that enable you to make the choice to dial it back a bit. Although I'm still not convinced by that either really...OK, I'm a Luddite. Anybody got any cotton looms they want smashing up??

[renmure]

Amazing how following things, seen in the mirror, get so small, so fast...

I remember a fine August evening 4 years ago smiling as I dispatched some sort of Volkswagen Golf on a twisty back road heading home In my Ultima and watching it get so small, so fast in the side mirrors. ..... Then watching it get bigger again through the side window, then the windscreen, then the other side window, then the windscreen again and then... well, I think I got a few more spins and lots of opportunities to see it catching up with me. My view of it ended up being ruined by the hedgerow and tree branches but the driver was good enough to stop and check I was ok. Nearly £48k insurance claim and only 9 months of rebuild down at the Factory later I was back on the road again. Don't think I've overtaken a Golf ever since

[Griff]

'I do believe the current push by governments for the supposed 'green' electric vehicles will be upon us quicker than we think, where will that leave enthusiasts like us on this forum who enjoy tinkering with oily mechanical bits?'

Nick, the difficulty is energy density, it only takes a couple of minutes to refuel a petrol/diesel vehicle and have a 300+ mile range, to do that in a electric car takes at least an hour, so your average service station can refuel 20+ cars per hour x number of pumps, whereas you can recharge 1 electric car per hour x number of charging stations. So the major drawback to journey times will be as the number of pure electric cars on the road increases. When you also consider that the UK does not have the electrical generating capacity (or plan to) to power all the stuff it already does + an all electric car population, its very easy to see that hybrid petrol/diesel/hydrogen - electric vehicles will be here for a significant time, for anybody doing long journeys outside an urban environment. So don't worry hydro-carbons are going to be around much longer than us!!